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Civil society

Blogger Power drives Penangites for Trams Campaign
2008-05-31 09:19:00
The campaign to bring back the trams to Penang is picking up momentum as more bloggers join in the action. So far 22 bloggers have joined in the campaign. That’s brilliant! Click here to see the full list. If you are a blogger and you want to join in the campaign, just add one of the ...
The Ghost of Penang Future: State govt should establish ?green? credentials
2008-05-26 17:54:00
Cover-up job: The rape of hill-slopes continues (Photo credit: Rhino) Last Friday, another mud slide struck Penang on the stretch of road between Tanjong Bunga and Batu Ferringhi. It was not surprising given the sort of hill-slope development taking place. This one occurred in the vicinity of the Ivory building project. You can see from this ...
Zaid Ibrahim to address media freedom activists
2008-05-25 08:24:00
On Sunday, 1 June, journalists and concerned citizens are planning to taking a symbolic Walk at Dataran Merdeka to promote the cause of media freedom. The organisers stress that it is not a public gathering but a walk. They expect Zaid Ibrahim to deliver a keynote address. According to the organisers, Zaid has made two requests - ...
The Profitable Dismantling of Civil Society
2008-05-15 00:00:00
Public infrastructure is deteriorating and Wall St. stands to profit from it. read more | digg story [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
Bloggers launch ?Penangites for Trams? campaign
2008-05-14 08:59:00
Today, several Penang-based bloggers and websites are due to simultaneously launch a “Penangites for Trams” campaign. We hope more and more bloggers and webmasters - especially all those who care for Penang - will join in the campaign by placing the graphics here on their blogs or websites. You can link the graphic to the ...
Suaram activists released on police bail, complain of ?mala fide?
2008-05-12 06:10:00
This morning, Suaram Penang coordinator Lau Shu Shi, who is also Penang coordinator for the Abolish ISA Movement (GMI), and Teh Chun Hong were released on police bail. Shu Shi told me she is required to report to the police on 21 May to find out about a possible charge under Section 90 of the Police ...
PGCC the biggest land scam: Guan Eng slams Koh and Teng
2008-05-11 09:17:00
The PGCC project has been the biggest land scam in Penang, Penang Chief Minister Guan Eng said today, adding there were a couple of other large scams still under investigation. He was responding to a statement by Teng Hock Nan yesterday (see full statement below). The Penang state government had converted the Turf Club land from ...
Candlelight vigil for Raja Petra at Dataran last night
2008-05-09 05:36:00
Looks like another ‘happening’ night at Dataran Merdeka yesterday. A candelight vigil for Raja Petra. Check out Teoh Jit Khiam’s photoblog here. Great pictures and witty write-up. Nice to see more creative people emerging in Malaysia. And delighted to hear Raja Petra is out on bail. Welcome back, Pete!
Utter fiasco! Here?s why CCTV cameras won?t work in Penang
2008-05-07 12:49:00
Now this is why the Penang state government should not go ahead with its plan to install CCTV cameras in crime-prone areas. The only people to benefit will be the camera and equipment suppliers. The UK has the most CCTV cameras - but it has been an utter fiasco as this report from This is London: ...
Abdullah?s last stand
2008-04-25 17:05:00
In the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876, a hopelessly outnumbered General Custer, along with his Seventh Cavalry of the United States Army, was defeated by a combined Lakota-Northern Cheyenne force. Custer and his forces were outnumbered at least three to one. When the end came, it was swift, the final battle lasting only ...
5 state govts back call for ISA detainees? release, Guan Eng tells Makkal S
2008-04-19 17:55:00
No letting up: Some 2,000 Makkal Sakthi and Hindraf supporters call for release of ISA detainees For one moment, it looked as if the general election campaign was not yet over. The orange shirts were back in numbers. A similar crowd had packed the Penang Chinese Town Hall in the run-up to the general election. Makkal Sakthi ...
Powerful corporate interests penetrate Penang local councils
2008-04-19 07:23:00
Just got a text message from an unhappy political scientist friend, who forwarded to me an sms that he had sent to a DAP rep in Penang: People not happy with councillors appoint & list. old wine in new bottle. expect you guys to deliver your promises during election. Also received another email from a concerned Penangite. ...
LIVE COVERAGE of the Penang Forum
2008-04-13 03:21:00
People in the new Penang now feel more empowered in the struggle for justice 4.30pm - The world is watching civil society in Malaysia, which is blossoming and acting as real agents of change. “I’m enthralled by the response of you participants who have stayed on the whole day,” concludes Ahmad Chik, the moderator for the ...
Civil society, local governments can partner vs. illegal recruitment
2008-04-13 00:18:00
The picturesque northern province of La Union hosts one of the 30 innovative development projects given funding by the World Bank and other funders during the 2008 Pani­bagong Paraan (Develop­ment Marketplace) awarding held April 9. Awarded P920,000 (roughly $23,000) was the joint project of the La Union local government-supported group Bannuar ti La Union (Heroes ...
Anti-war protesters to blare music during Blair talk
2008-03-31 16:20:00
I must say this sounds like it’s going to be an unusual - if noisy! - anti-war protest directed at Blair. Spotted this on the Indymedia UK website: Sounding Out Tony Blair Stop the War Coalition | 31.03.2008 14:13 ...
Trengganu MB crisis: Follow the money trail
2008-03-24 11:46:00
I spent a couple of years in Trengganu when I was a kid. I have fond memories of a tranquil and rustic state, wonderful childhood neighbours - whom I have recently been reacqainted with after all these years - and family picnics at Pantai Chendering. So the high stakes battle in Trengganu over the choice ...
Explaining Civil Society Schizophrenia
2008-02-28 17:47:00
Tuesday's post on 'civil society schizophrenia' seems to have struck a chord. Apart from some insightful comments, which you can read, I've also received a number of emails from NGOs telling me that they are as puzzled as I am at the different levels of formal integration of civil society into multilateral processes of disarmament and arms control; from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention.Some have suggested interesting explanations for this phenomenon. For example, Piers suggests that, although the diplomats dealing with all of these issues may generally be the same people, perhaps the NGOs are not. In other words, might not different levels of acceptability (to governments) of issue-specific NGOs explain the different levels of formal civil society integration across these issue-areas? Daniel Feakes points out, however, that the same NGOs that deal with biological weapons issues also tend to deal with chemical weapons issues but t...
Civil Society Schizophrenia
2008-02-26 14:38:00
Reading John Borrie's daily postings from last week's Wellington conference on cluster munitions (see below), I was reminded of something that I have been mulling over in my mind for some time now but have not yet had the chance to examine properly. I am referring to a highly specific professional disorder that seems only to afflict disarmament diplomats. It's called 'civil society schizophrenia.'Last week in Wellington, 122 States slogged it out with each other and with the now formidable Cluster Munitions Coalition of NGOs to agree a draft text that will serve as the basis for negotiations on a new Cluster Munitions Convention. NGOs were present in Wellington's Town Hall for the entire duration of the conference. They intervened at will in the discussions and openly criticized certain States for attempting to weaken the Wellington text. NGOs provided valuable inputs to the debates based on sound research, interpretation of evidence and testimony of victims. In short, ...
Have you read this not-so-secret diary?
2008-02-21 16:21:00
Already tired of the mainstream media’s bias in covering the election campaign? Don’t fret, you are not alone. And I have got just the right antidote for you. In case you haven’t noticed, there is a new blog in town. The Malaysian Election Media Monitors’ Diary, which is now in full flow. This is an initiative launched on ...
After stalling RM25bil project, PGCC Campaign Group calls for Local Plans i
2008-02-04 16:07:00
Fresh from their success in stalling the PGCC project, the civil society PGCC Campaign Group held a press conference yesterday to put forward their position and demands. Essentially, the civil society groups are asking for Local Plans to be prepared first - with full public participation - before any development can be approved. Once the Local ...
Drop in donations for Batu Caves supports eye-witness impressions of turnou
2008-02-01 10:21:00
The Batu Caves temple authorities have made public their takings for this year’s Thaipusam celebrations. Malaysiakini reported that the temple collected only RM1.04 million this year compared to RM1.8 million last year - that’s a 42 per cent plunge in takings. That’s assuming all the money has been properly accounted for. This corroborates the impressions of eye-witness ...
Lingam inquiry: Cowing civil society into silence?
2008-02-01 02:51:00
So the Commission of Inquiry thinks that Aliran’s statement on the refusal of the Commission to call in certain witnesses is “on the verge” of contempt. That is so sad. They expect civil society to sit back and stomach the sort of testimony that is being offered in total silence while potentially important witnesses are left ...
Penang civil society groups not letting down guard after stalling PGCC
2008-01-25 15:40:00
This speaks for itself. Some people are saying the government’s change of heart is just an election gimmick. But there was intense pressure from civil society groups and ordinary Malaysians upset over losing a green lung and horrified what the traffic would be like. It just goes to show what ordinary people can do, if they ...
Major blow for Patrick Lim, Equine, as Penang Govt stalls PGCC project
2008-01-18 16:49:00
Who says that ordinary people can’t make a difference? In the end, it took 2,500 postcards, 500 emails and a concerted civil society campaign to convince Penang Chief Minister Koh Tsu Koon that it would be politically costly for the government to proceed with this project. It is a fact that many Penangites and all those who ...
Samy Vellu booed on ?live? TV; are his political days numbered?
2007-12-23 05:53:00
MIC president Samy Vellu was booed and publicly humiliated when he turned up to officiate at the Aattam 100 Vagai 3 (100 types of dance) performance at the Penang International Sports Arena (Pisa) last night. Sources tell me the crowd of 2,000-3,000 shouted obscenities at him including “po-dah” (the rude version of “get lost”) and ...
Activists hold candle-light vigil in Penang on a dark day for democracy
2007-12-13 16:15:00
Some two dozen activists and other concerned Malaysians held a candlelight vigil in central George Town, Penang to uphold the right to freedom of assembly on a day which saw five Hindraf leaders detained under the ISA. The small crowd, which included Aliran and Suaram members, gathered at 8.50pm at the Penang Road/Kimberley Road junction, under ...
Wielding the big stick and sweeping issues under the Putrajaya rug
2007-12-11 11:24:00
More arrests today. This time largely targeting the Bersih group and the Hindraf leaders. I have lost track of the number of people arrested, released, re-arrested, denied bail, charged with illegal assembly, “causing mischief”, “attempted murder”, sedition… All this while the Attorney General personally appears in court and tries to deny people bail. What on earth is ...
On the eve of World Human Rights Day, Malaysia?s bravest lawyers are arrest
2007-12-09 07:02:00
Five lawyers and three activists were arrested this morning when they attempted to march in Kuala Lumpur ahead of World Human Rights Day tomorrow. That they should be arrested while trying to uphold the right to freedom of assembly rights shows us just what the authorities think of human rights. It reveals utter contempt of basic ...
Farmers lose autonomy as MNCs take control of agriculture
2007-12-06 15:28:00
Farmers are under increasing pressure from multinational corporations, which in many parts of the world are planning to take control over the entire food production and distribution chain. This leaves farmers at the mercy of these MNCs for seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, sales and distribution. In the end, the farmers will lose their autonomy and independence and ...
Just a reminder: Have you registered as a voter?
2007-12-02 09:30:00
Make sure you check your voter registration details. Click here to verify.
Can Media Prima take on Malaysia Today and Malaysiakini?
2007-11-29 06:47:00
This is a piece I wrote for Asia Times about Media Prima’s intention to plunge into the Internet in a big way, ostensibly to diversify its revenue base and tap into on-line advertising revenue. Telekom Malaysia is spending billions to prepare the ground with high-speed broadband around the country. Though the main focus of Media ...
When human rights activists let their hair down?
2007-11-29 06:45:00
The Aliran Singers re-united and in full flow! Aliran turns 30: A heart-warming celebration of justice It was all so different from the official Merdeka celebrations, monopolised and dominated by members of the ruling coalition, recalls Anil Netto, of a night to remember. Full article Why not support the cause of human rights and justice by subscribing ...
Asean embraces a rogue regime while inking a Charter for Big Business
2007-11-21 07:10:00
So the Asean leaders have signed a Charter in the wonderfully democratic nation of Singapore in the company of leaders from Burma’s rogue regime. (Check out this excellent documentary “Burma’s Secret War”.) Each member nation now has to take the Charter back to their home countries so that it can be ratified by their respective ...
No need for institutional reform? You gotta be kidding!
2007-11-18 16:07:00
Here is the Al Jazeera panel discussion (in two parts) on the 10 Nov rally to demand electoral reforms. The panelists were Umno Youth deputy chief Khairy, de facto Law Minister Nazri (Umno as well) and human rights lawyer Imtiaz. Here’s an excerpt. Nazri tries to keep up with the fast-paced discussion by repeating his mantra ...
Beware those who want to hijack Malaysia?s People Power movement
2007-11-17 06:43:00
In a parting shot, Thierry Rommel, the European ambassador who left his post on Tuesday, castigated the Malaysian government for its deplorable human rights record and the “discriminatory” New Economic Policy (NEP). News reports quoted Rommel as saying the executive in Malaysia is “all-powerful and not accountable” while the judiciary remains beholden to the executive because ...
?No matter the regime?s physical power, in the end they can?t stop the peop
2007-11-13 05:51:00
Those words uttered by Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi could well apply to Malaysia. Was it a stalemate on 10 Nov? After all, the demonstrators had been thwarted from gathering at Dataran Merdeka in the city centre. They were unable to reach the gates of the palace to hand in their memorandum. So what had they ...
50,000 Malaysians defy ban to demand electoral reforms
2007-11-11 02:44:00
Sea of yellow: They came in their thousands to get their point across - Photo credit: Seng Keat Tan So the chief of police puts the turnout at 4,000 in a report tucked away on page 8 of The Star. Interesting! But then he was probably referring to the crowd at Masjid Jamek alone, where police ...
Penang Global City Centre: Activists step up campaign
2007-11-06 18:22:00
Activists have stepped up the campaign as the stakes rise. The developer has taken its PR blitz to the shopping malls, but activists have been meeting residents neighbouring the PGCC project site who are worried about the impact of the project. Here we see heritage conservationist Loh-Lim Lin Lee, architect Laurence Loh and heritage activist Dr ...
Now you can watch Fahmi Reza?s hartal film
2007-10-20 15:28:00
Go here to watch Fahmi Reza’s outstanding film on the 1947 hartal - the winner of the 2007 Freedom Film Festival. It’s worth the watch.
Photo licenses 10 years on
2007-10-16 13:29:00
After 10 years of use as a de facto ID card, the New Zealand government has just published draft guidelines requiring that they are no longer accepted by government agencies as a 'strong' form of identification. What lesson does this offer for the future of ID cards? Putting aside the matter of principle, lets just look at the practical experience of having a government issued card that most of the population uses as a form of identification. My big fear with the introduction of photo-licenses was that the simple fact they were widely carried would mean that all and sundry would start asking for a level of evidence of identity that was out of all proportion to the risk evolved in the transaction: for example, registering with the local video store. Wide scale, dispersed ID records increase the chances of fraud, simply because they are held in multiple locations. And the more widely a form of ID becomes accepted, the more attractive it is to fraudsters. The New Zealand Departme...
Toh Kin Woon, the BN?s most principled politician
2007-10-12 04:19:00
I was glad to see the Malaysiakini interview with Toh Kin Woon and sorry to hear that he is retiring from politics soon. I would say Toh, the Gerakan vice-chairman and Penang state exco member, is the most principled politician in the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition. He has called for the abolition of the Internal Security ...
Public meetings for lamp-posts - but not for PGCC
2007-10-10 19:27:00
A few years ago, the government allocated funds to turn parts of the area around Jalan Kapitan Keling in Penang into a “Gold Bazaar”. According to Seri: …the Gold Bazaar was proposed by former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir Mohammad after a trip to Dubai and upon being told that the majority of the jewellery on display were ...
Sri Lanka civil society submits a petition to the Myanmar Ambassador
2007-10-05 06:16:00
Sri Lanka civil society submits a petition to the Myanmar Ambassador
Sri Lanka civil society expresses solidarity with Burmese protestors
2007-10-02 06:23:00
Sri Lanka civil society expresses solidarity with Burmese protestors
World: 'No State Should Limit OSCE?s Support For Civil Society' - R
2007-09-23 11:55:00
RadioFreeEurope/RadioLibertyWor-ld: 'No State Should Limit OSCE?s Support For Civil Society'RadioFreeEurope/Rad-ioLiberty, Czech Republic - 2 hours agoOn September 24, civil society groups from across the former Soviet region gather in Warsaw to meet with member states of the OSCE. ...
Observations on Civil Society?s Movement on Behalf of the Chief Justice by
2007-07-25 04:35:00
Mr Nayyer Ali’s observations are quite accurate. Even though I would like to add that it was not only the political parties that took part in this anti-Musharraf movement, but the lawyers (or politically motivated lawyers) also chanted anti-Musharraf slogans and turned it into an anti-Musharraf movement. The rhetoric after the verdict has been interesting ...
Civil society to be involved in foreign policy framing: Pranab
2007-06-16 16:25:00
Shillong, June 16 (IANS) External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee Saturday took India’s foreign policy to the people by calling for evolving a mechanism in which civil society is involved in framing foreign policies for strengthening bilateral and regional ties, especially to boost India’s ‘Look East’ policy.
Civil Society Forum Sets the Tone for the Lima Conference
2007-05-23 09:16:00
I'm Jamie Stocker and, over the next few days, I?ll be posting updates on the progress of the international conference I?m attending in Lima, Peru, on cluster munitions, which starts today and finishes on Friday. This conference follows the Oslo Conference held in February (see previous posts) and seeks to both broaden support for its goals and deepen discussions on ?cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians?.Yesterday, the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) hosted a Regional Civil Society Forum in Lima on ?Taking Action On Cluster Munitions?, which I attended as an observer. This forum had several goals, including trying to set the tone for the Lima conference of states, attracting media attention (including from what I have been told is a very interested Peruvian media), countering arguments against efforts to address through regulation or prohibition the humanitarian impacts of cluster munitions, as well as outlining the CMC?s ?expectations? on what it wants to s...
Southern African civil society groups to meet Mbeki on Mugabe
2007-04-20 00:00:00
Executive Director for Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) Mr. Undule Mwakasungula says Zimbabwe's economic and political crisis could negatively affect the whole southern African region if left unresolved. Mwakasungura says civil society groups in the region have mobilized to intervene on the Zimbabwe crisis. He says an international ...
The Beginning of Civil War or The End of Civil Society?
1969-12-31 19:00:00
In a recent article by Dr. Amaal V.E. Tokars, she writes: “There has been much talk recently over whether or not Iraq has fallen into a state of civil war. If this talk is true, then the question of who is to blame for the violence has a simple answer, and a rather convenient ...
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